Mother Nature has been cruel to us here in upstate NY of rate past month or so. After a particularly cold and brutal winter we thought we maybe were beginning to see the end of it. There were several day strings a few times of temperatures well above seasonal averages. It was really beginning to feel like spring was around the corner.

But alas, Mother Nature was just toying with us. She slammed that door right in our face. Locking us outside in the cold just in time for the Southern Tier Running Club’s annual St. Patrick’s Day 5k and 10k.

The week prior to the race we were outside running in shorts. It was beginning to look like the race might be a great day for a run and then nice weather to gather the running community outside and enjoy some post race food and socialization. Instead the race day weather was cold and windy.

Our swag item that the running club provided for the race was a pair of t. Patrick’s Day themed pajama pants. And many of our participants ended up running the race wearing them. I don’t know if that was because they were too cold and needed an extra layer for warmth or just because they were so cool. I would like to think the runners just really liked them and wanted to show them off. But it is hard to rule out the cold as a major factor.

This year our board at STRC decided to make some minor changes to the course in order to simplify it and make parking and traffic in the park easier. We changed the direction the runners enter and leave the park as they start and finish the race. That way runners finishing won’t have to contend with traffic as others come and go from the park. We also straightened out the course. We eliminated turns to make the course easier to follow and take out the one significant hill on the course. A runner thanked us on packet pick up day for changing the course to remove that hill.

I volunteered to help with course set up and course take down. And during the race I provided photography services. The coldest part of my day by far was standing out on the course with my camera in my hand creating images. But that is what I love to do.

I love being there to capture the moments people put so mush work into. So that they can be out there putting their best foot forward in a running event. I hope to capture a moment that they can be proud of. Running photos aren’t always glorious or beautiful. But they show the hard work and dedication that is in action right at that moment in time.

As far as the cold goes I did learn a valuable lesson from our 2025 Thanksgiving Day race, where it was also very cold and windy. That day I was underdressed and I was freezing by the time I was done with photos. But I was smarter for this race and bundled up as much as I could. I actually wore my ski gloves and was mostly able to capture images and use my camera without much hampering me. The only downside is near the end of the event my lens froze up and would not focus anymore. So I couldn’t get photos of all the runners headed back towards the finish line.

I think we at STRC put on a pretty successful event again this year. I look forward to hearing what the feedback is from all our participants.

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